The Midnight Sun
by nightchildx
Summary: For half vampire Alan, keeping a low profile is effortless, yet every once in awhile, human contact is unavoidable. In the battle to maintain his humanity, Alan makes an unlikely friend that may have more to teach him than meets the eye. Set a few months before "The Thirst". Chapter 2 is up!
1. Chapter 1

**Title: The Midnight Sun**

**Rating: M for strong language, gratuitous violence, and graphic sexual situations.**

**Dedication: To Doofus and Doofus. You know who you are.**

**Summary: For half vampire Alan, keeping a low profile is effortless, yet every once in a while, human contact is unavoidable. Set a few months before "The Thirst".**

**Please enjoy, and leave a review! It's the only way I know if I should bother to continue this story. Thank you!**

The only sound to be heard by any mortal ear was the soft rustle of leaves by the breeze that had traveled so far inland from the Pacific, a sound that to most would be comforting, but the chorus of nature brought no peace to Alan Frog.

Now it was just bothersome. About six yards away, a spider began to feast mercilessly on some unlucky fly that had managed to trap itself in its sticky, silken web. The spider pierced the exoskeleton with its pincers and began to drain the helpless insect of its life.

Much like a vampire.

Alan's stomach gave an unpleasant turn at the thought and let the rabbit carcass he'd been holding fall to his feet with a soft thud. The creature had been given a quick death with an effortless twist of the spine. It was done not only out of pity, but because of Alan's inability to withstand the high-pitched cries of terror when he tore into its flesh with his bare teeth.

Animal blood. It was the only thing that kept the hunger at bay after he'd been forced to drink from the vampire he and Edgar had been hunting that night in D.C. The taste of it was positively vile, and it kept getting harder and harder to choke back the stuff every time he fed. It was what his half-vampire body needed to survive, but not what it craved.

He'd become more reclusive, more paranoid and bitter than ever these past four years. He took up residence outside San Cazador, still close to his brother but just far enough away to avoid him and everyone else he put at risk.

It was a miserable, isolated life he lived in his white-trash shack of a house. It had so few commodities and whatever space it had was taken up by his new hobby. Not that it mattered though since nobody ever came and visited, save for Edgar showing up once in a blue moon.

The next thing he heard was a frightful yowling coming somewhere close to the road, a sound he would have ignored if it hadn't immediately been followed by a human shriek of terror.

He ran to the road without a second thought, faster than any man ever could. He only beheld the scene for the shortest of moments before his instinct to protect life urged him to intervene.

A woman, blonde, disheveled, and in absolute terror stood opposite a snarling mountain lion, taking a vicious swipe at the long, metal cane she held in front of her to keep the cat at bay. The mountain lion snarled at spat and drew closer to the woman, ready to pounce.

It took no notice of the half vampire swooping in from behind, and would find it much too late to act when Alan's hands wrapped around its head and severed the spinal cord with a brutal twist.

The resulting crunch of broken vertebrae startled the woman, who yelped and drew back, still brandishing her cane. Over her ragged breathing, Alan could hear her heart beat so rapidly, you could dance to it.

The woman made no other more or attempt to speak. Alan noticed, in fact, she wouldn't even look at him or her would-be killer. It was almost as if she didn't know he was there. Now he wasn't particularly skilled at social interactions himself, but a simple acknowledgement of what he had just done for her would have been nice.

Then it hit him. The cane, the lack of eye contact- she was blind!

Alan swallowed thickly and rose to his feet, stepping slowly so as not to frighten her further. "Take it easy, you're alright now." He spoke, though not all too comfortingly.

She jumped at his voice, then visibly relaxed and let the end of her cane touch the ground, no longer her shield. "Is it gone?" she asked breathlessly. Though her eyes did not meet his, her gaze still rested on his face, oblivious to the vampiric features that allowed him to see her so clearly in such a dark setting.

"Yeah. Yeah it's gone. Ran off when I showed up." Alan lied, wetting his lips. Behind him he heard the crippled beast's heart slow and finally give out.

She shut her eyes and exhaled, letting a smile grace her face. "You must be an angel."

Something seemed to roll over in his stomach. "You couldn't be more wrong about that, lady." He said with a grimace.

"God sent you, I'm sure of it." She paused, then smiled and extended her right hand somewhat timidly. "I'm Mae West."

Alan glanced down at his own, still a bit sticky with rabbit blood, and wiped the remainder on his jeans. "Alan Frog." He said curtly, giving her hand a brief shake.

"I can't believe you showed up when you did. Where on earth did you come from?"

"Just out for a walk." He said, unwilling to reveal much about himself and his recent meal.

"So late?" she said musingly, tilting her head a bit.

"Couldn't sleep." He grunted. Even as a half vampire, he rarely ventured out during daylight hours to avoid the harsh light that stung his flesh and eyes. It only weakened him and made the thirst grow stronger. "I could say the same of you."

She only shrugged. "I haven't had a good night's sleep in twelve years, so I'm usually up at this hour. I'm only outside because my cat got out."

A curious thing to say, Alan thought, but he wasn't about to make conversation out of it. A small breeze picked up, blowing the scent of her flowery shampoo in his direction. It was pleasant, and helped to make her smell less like food to him. That was good.

"Your cat?" He echoed.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Orange tabby, red collar, goes by Spiderman."

A small smile tugged at his lips. "Haven't seen him." He answered honestly.

"If you do, send him my way, would ya? I live just up the road there. Only house with green shutters."

He knew the one, having passed it on the many. After a pregnant pause he noticed her wringing her hands around the grip of her cane as if she were still anxious and then the way she bit her lower lip and stared at him expectantly. But what could she possibly want from him?

Finally she spoke. "Would you… would you walk me home please? I got a bit turned around and I couldn't possibly know if that mountain lion will come back."

Alan's eyebrows shot up, unsure if he were more surprised by her request or the fact that she was so shy about. Either way, he wasn't about to turn down a lost, blind woman alone by the road. Preventing the death of innocent civilians had long been his personal burden, nay his calling, whether it involved bloodsuckers or no.

"Yeah alright." He agreed with some hesitance in his voice. The tone wasn't intentional, rather a habit he had honed over the years as a result of his proclivity to avoid unnecessary social interactions. Once a loner, always a loner.

Mae seemed to take no notice of this and smiled gratefully. "Fantastic, thank you!"

Alan only cleared his throat and walked past her. She followed the sound of his footsteps until she caught up with him. After another moment of silence, Mae piped up again with a forced cheery tone.

"I'm assuming we're neighbors then? I can't imagine anyone taking a walk all the way out here at this hour would live in town."

He licked his lips, less than thrilled to tell her he lived next door to crack addicts and convicted felons. Even when he told himself that it didn't matter what she or anyone else thought of him, he couldn't help but feel a sliver of shame tug at the back of his mind.

"Kind of. It's some housing complex on the way out here." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't as if she had asked for specific details.

Mae only nodded to acknowledge his answer.

"…Why Spiderman?" he asked, suddenly curious.

"Well," she said with a shrug "my nephew actually named him for me. Thought it would be fitting since I'm his Aunt Mae."

Alan felt a strong wave of nostalgia wash over him, thinking fondly of his youth when he worked in the comic store in Santa Carla. The reminder of better times grew bitter, and he quickly brushed the memories aside.

"Peter Parker's widowed aunt." He said, recognizing the reference. "Makes sense. How old is your nephew?"

"He's nine. Sweet kid, but not terribly bright, poor thing." She clicked her teeth and shook her head in pity.

They were on her property now, crossing the gravel driveway and up to the front porch. There was a white sedan parked in the middle, the engine still hot from recent use. There was nothing remarkable about the house, nor was it dilapidated or poorly maintained. In a way, it was quaint; it had crisp, white panel siding and dark green shutters that suited it well, and a little swinging bench hanging under the porch. With small, purple flowers and the myriad of trees that surrounded house, one might call it picturesque, if not a tad generic.

Alan glanced down at Mae's left hand, taking note of the diamond ring upon the second-to-last finger. "Does your husband know you've been wandering around in the dark, chasing after cats?" he asked with a hint of mirth.

Something flickered in her features almost too quickly to be noticed and Alan suddenly wished he had kept his mouth shut. "No." She said evenly. "My husband passed away several years ago. I live with my roommate now."

Alan shifted uncomfortably and scratched the back of his neck, desperately wanting to get the hell away before the sun started to rise. "I'm sorry to hear that." Was all he could muster as a response.

But Mae only waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, it was an age ago. Besides, if you hadn't shown up when you did, I'd be with him right now. Fortuitous, no?"

At a loss for words now, he could only help but feel a bit flustered, not knowing how to leave gracefully. Seeing no other way out, he resorted to his usual blunt diction. "I-I gotta go."

Without waiting for a response, he took off, launching himself off the porch and into the night sky. What would have taken nearly thirty minutes by car was only twelve by flight by the time he reached home.

The street was filthy, and poorly lit. The lamps that adorned every doorway of the crumbly apartments were either burnt out, or missing its glass shade. Alan's lamp was gone all together. He shuffled inside only to be greeted by silence, and felt an odd twinge in his chest, proof that his heart was still beating, proof that he was still human.

Alan had never intentionally been rude to people whether he liked them or not, but the likelihood of he and Mae ever crossing paths again was slim, at least in any scenario he could think of, and it eased his lingering remorse.

Still, he fell asleep with little trouble, even when he had the nagging feeling that something was missing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: The Midnight Sun**

**Rating: M for strong language, gratuitous violence, and graphic sexual situations.**

**Summary: For half vampire Alan, keeping a low profile is effortless, yet every once in a while, human contact is unavoidable. Set a few months before "The Thirst".**

**Thanks to reviewers Erzsebeth Bathory and Doors! Please enjoy!**

A sharp, clear voice cut through Mae's dreams and she awoke, startled by the noise. She emitted a low moan of annoyance and shifted in her bed sheets, letting her intruding roommate know she was awake. "Whaddya want?" she grumbled, voice thick with sleep.

Camille, already sitting on the edge of the bed, rapped something solid against Mae's hip. "Found somebody's wallet in the lawn as I was walking out to the car. Did you have somebody over while I was at work, or do you think we have a prowler?"

"What's the ID say?"

"Uh…" Camille paused to look through the leather billfold again. "Alan Frog. Weirdass name if you ask me."

That seemed to get her attention. "Oh, it's Alan's after all! See if there's anything in there we can use to contact him."

"So how do you know this guy?" Camille began to shuffle through for clues.

"Fun story," Mae smiled and rubbed an eye as she sat up in bed. "He saved my life last night."

Camille looked at her roommate, incredulous. "He did _what_ now?"

She quickly recounted the incident with the mountain lion, leaving Camille completely astonished, if not a bit put out that she didn't tell her sooner.

"And then he just took off as soon as he helped me home, like he thought I was going to bite him or something. I guess he dropped it when he ran." Mae shrugged.

"Fuckin' rude." Camille sniffed. "Look, I don't have time right now, I'm late enough as it is. Just use your magic wand thingy and find what you can. I can help you out tonight if you can't find anything."

Mae agreed and took the wallet, bidding Camille farewell. She leaned over to the right of her bed where her side table stood and opened the drawer. After rooting through her drawer for a few seconds she pulled out a white, plastic and metal, wand-like gadget. It was a particularly useful tool for the blind or visually impaired which scanned written words and repeated them aloud, assuming the words were legible.

Carefully she pulled out a few pieces of paper scanned each scrap, at first only getting receipts for things like surgical tools and odd little things from hobby shops. With latex gloves, scalpels, pliers and wire ties among the list of purchased items, one might mistake Alan for a serial killer putting together a rape kit, but Mae believed she knew better than to think so poorly of him. Finally she found a paper with a number scrawled in black ink; the area code was indeed being a California number.

She dialed and waited in silence, halfway hoping no one would answer so she wouldn't have to talk to some stranger about someone she barely knew in the first place. On the fifth ring, someone picked up.

"Who is this?" The voice was decidedly gruffer than Alan's yet somehow it sounded very similar in depth and diction, like they could be related.

Mae swallowed. "I'm sorry, is this… is Alan Frog there?"

There was a brief moment of silence on the other end. "What do you want with Alan?" the man replied, suspicion obvious in his voice.

"I, well, you see he left his wallet at my house and I don't have his number," she began, suddenly feeling anxious. "and this was the only one I could find. Y-you wouldn't happen to have it, would you?"

Again he remained silent as if mulling it over. Why would he possibly want to keep a simple phone number from her? What could he be thinking?

"You sound alike." She blurted out, much to her own embarrassment. Oh God, don't make conversation. Why would you drag this out any longer than necessary?

"I should." He grumbled. "I'm his brother."

"Oh, I didn't know he had a brother. Well, I don't know anything about him really, so there's that."

"If you don't know him, why was he at your house?"

Now it was starting to feel like an interrogation rather than a conversation. "I- I was having some trouble and he walked me home. I'm blind, you see."

He scoffed, much to her confusion. "What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't. It's Mae. Mae West." She said with a frown. She wasn't at all sure she liked him very much. Perhaps it was the coarseness of his language, even when he hadn't cursed at her once. She could tell he wasn't exactly a Chatty Cathy. "I'm sorry, can I have his number or not?"

"Not."

Mae blinked twice before she could make herself reply. "Excuse me?"

"I'll call him and have him pick it up from you. If you are who you say you are, he'll know where you live and go get it. I'm not gonna give his number out to strangers."

"What, do you think I'm gonna harass him or something? I just want to give the guy his wallet back!" she said, decidedly put out by now. "And now that you've officially pissed me off, shouldn't you be more worried that I have _your _number, if that really were my goal?"

"I'm hanging up now."

"Dude!"

The man had already ended the call, leaving Mae alone, completely incredulous. "Ugh. I guess good manners run in the family." She said aloud, and hung up her end of the line.

XxXxXxX

Alan almost didn't answer when his cellphone rang late that afternoon. He had been asleep at that point as he usually was, since daylight was no longer apart of his natural waking hours. Yet he received no true rest from his unconscious state as would a normal human. Repose no longer brought his body or mind the peace it needed, and now he slept solely as pastime.

"Who the hell is Mae West, and why are you seeing her?"

"Wha- no, I haven't been seeing- how the hell do you know that?" Alan stuttered, genuinely confused.

"I got a call from her five minutes ago, claiming she has your wallet. I mean _shit_, Alan, why not just put up flyers of yourself so every goddamn vampire on the west coast can find you!" Edgar spat.

Alan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I must have dropped it on her porch or something when I left."

"So who is she?"

"Just a civilian. And no, she's not a vampire. A goddamn bloodsucker wouldn't be afraid of a mountain lion, blind or no." he shook his head.

"A _what?_ You know what? Never mind, I don't wanna know. Just lettin' you know she's got something that belongs to you."

"Thanks, I guess." Alan said, somewhat uneasy now. The growing distance between him and his brother made the simplest conversation discomforting. It was the underlying mix of pity and revulsion in his voice that kept Alan at bay, something he couldn't possibly endure on a daily basis.

"And Alan," Edgar interjected suddenly. "don't get involved with this woman, alright? The more time you spend with her, the more danger you put her in."

"Jesus, I met her _once_! You don't have to tell me this."

Disgusted, he hung up without a goodbye and threw himself back into bed, now too angry to fall back asleep.

XxXxXxX

At sundown, he rolled out of bed and climbed into his weather-beaten car, now driving to Mae's rather than flying. Flying was too risky, especially at this hour when there were still so many people out and about, in addition to the fact that it made him weary, and lowered his restraint.

He pulled into her gravel driveway, noticing the sedan from the night before was no longer there. That was good. Running into her roommate was definitely not on his to-do list that night, considering he didn't want to see Mae in the firsts place.

He walked up to her porch, knocked and waited. He could hear her walking around inside, her light footsteps, the tap, tap, tapping of her cane, and the faint pulse beating beneath her flesh. Finally she open the door, somewhat hesitantly.

"Yes, can I help you?" she said evenly, staring directly at his left shoulder.

"Uh, Hi, Mae… Its Alan. My brother called and-"

Mae cut him off with a nod and ushered him inside. "I was wondering when you'd show. Please, come in. I'll go get it." She said with a polite smile.

After she was sure he'd come in and had shut the door behind him, she reached out to him, gently brushing her fingertips against his elbow. "I made tea, would you care for any?"

He declined politely, not wanting to spend the evening with her as he knew it would only lead to no good. She asked him to wait for her in the kitchen which she directed him to, and left to go upstairs to retrieve his wallet, her cane tapping against the hardwood floor as she went.

Alan stared after her retreating form, perplexed. She was so odd, so uncommonly straight-laced and formal, and her language deliberate in diction and tone. It was Stepford-like, creepy even, and he wondered how this could be normal behavior for anyone.

Looking around, he could see there was little out of the ordinary as far as the kitchen was concerned. It was very neat and warmly decorated, and far larger than he was expected for a house this size.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a large, orange tomcat suddenly launched itself onto the island counter he was leaning against.

The cat sat on its haunches and stared at him with large, green eyes. He mewled once and rolled over on his back, presenting his belly for the petting he expected.

Without hesitation, Alan ran his fingers over the feline's fur which was met with a rumbling purr. He only looked up when the sound of Mae's even heartbeat drew closer, informing him of her return.

"I see Spiderman came back." He said, still scratching the cat's soft belly.

Mae smiled brightly and stood a little closer to Alan. "Yeah, he came back early this morning after you left. My, he's purring loudly! He must like you."

When he didn't answer, she extended her arm, holding out his brown leather wallet.

"Well, to the best of my knowledge, I put everything back the way I found it. I'm sorry I went through it, but I didn't know how else to contact you. Or in this case, your brother. I wasn't sure if he would actually call you or not, since he seemed to distrust me right off the bat."

_Dammit, Edgar_.

Alan laughed half-heartedly, masking his annoyance. "I'm sorry about that. He can be kind of abrasive. We um, we haven't actually spoken in a really long time, so I really think it's me he doesn't trust."

Her hand wandered up to a thin, silver chain with a metal, oval charm depicting a man bearing a staff and a tongue of fire floating over his head. She began to finger the charm that lay against her breasts, which Alan hadn't noticed until now.

"Saint Peter?" he questioned,

"It's Saint Jude actually. I think you need this more than I do." She said, resting her cane against the counter and reached up to unfasten the clasp.

Alan was taken aback. "Oh, I don't think-"

"Please, I want you to have it. It's okay if you're not religious. Just think of it as a reminder that there's always something good waiting to happen. I was wearing it when I almost got eaten last night, and then you swooped in like the goddamn Batman, so there you have it."

The goddamn Batman. It sounded so strange coming out of her mouth when she had been nothing but formal beforehand. At least it took the edge off the creep factor she had before.

She reached out and found his hand, cradling it in her own as she dropped the chain into his large palm. Even with her flowery shampoo he could smell the blood her heart steadily pumped with every passing second. It was so steady, so calm and rhythmic, he found himself actually concerned when the beat suddenly grew rapid when her small, white hands held his for much longer than he anticipated.

She giggled and withdrew, sounding so girlish and cute, he was sure that if he had only heard the tinkling sound and not her face, he'd have sworn she were a small child.

"Sorry, your hands are just so cold." She smiled bashfully. "And surprisingly calloused. You must work with them a lot."

After so many years of carving wooden stakes, crosses, and beating the ever-loving shit out of vampire scum, he was sometimes surprised he could use his hands at all.

"You could say that." He said, rubbing his thumb over the silver medallion.

He eyed the cardboard boxes, trying to change the subject. "You moving?"

A small flicker of confusion crossed her features as she tried to register his meaning. "Oh those? No, not me. All that is just going into storage. They can get really heavy, and since Camille, my roommate, is going out of town tomorrow, I'm going to have to wait till she gets back to move everything."

Without thinking Alan opened his mouth, something he was going to kick himself for later on. "Do you need any help?"

Mae only smiled wryly. "Are you offering?"


End file.
